The Yakuza
by Jordanalane
Summary: The four families of the Yazuka were at war until a peace was called by Zuko, the eldest son of one of the most powerful families. However this peace is contingent on on fragile connections and whispers between the families. Can Zuko keep the killing at bay long enough to ensure long term security for them all? T for Violence and Sexual Situations. (Zuki Zukaang Sokkla)
1. Chapter 1

Long ago the four major crime families of the Yakuza crime syndicate lived in a fragile peace. It was a peace forced out of years of bloody conflict, that left men and women on all sides dead. A peace that was out of survival more than chivalry.

However this peace was shattered by a disease that was simply called "The Flame". It killed almost all that it affected, with only childbearing-aged women being susceptible to its ravages. They would be healthy in the morning, engulfed in a high fever by the afternoon, and dead before dark. Thousands of women were killed before a cure was found, leaving behind countless widowers and motherless children.

Two of these such families, were the most powerful of crime families.

The Watari family was the largest of the families, and were known for their overwhelming influence in politics and banking. They were as wealthy as they were brutal. Their leader, Hakoda lost his wife Kya in The Flame, leaving him with two children to raise with the help of his mother, the family matriarch Kanna. The children, a boy and a girl, were versed in the same lifestyle as their father.

The daughter, Katara was a waterbender, and worked as a healer, helping the wounded men of the war between the families. However her dark side had become lore among the underworld. Rumor had it that she was a bloodbender, and that she was not to be taken lightly.

Sokka, the son, was the main enforcer for the family. He was heavily covered in tattoos like his father, the tip of his both of his pinkies cut off from punishments that he'd received. He was known for being brutal, and was rumored to have killed a man for simply stepping on his foot in an elevator.

Hakoda had mourned the loss of his wife, for both him and his children. He felt that Kya was his only tether to what was good in life and in him. She was his saving grace. But he hadn't let it affect other parts of his life. Hadn't let it affect the peace.

However the Kasai family, and it's head Ozai, did more than enough of that for everyone. He mourned the loss of his wife Ursa with the fury and rage that his entire influence could muster. The family, while smaller, was powerful and could trace their linage back to the days of the Samurai. Meaning that their power could really influence the balance of peace.

Ozai was left with his own children, a boy and girl the same ages as Hakoda's children. He had had another child that had died along with its mother in the womb. Like the Watari family, the children were brought up in a mix of violence and honor that infiltrated their lives.

The daughter, Azula, was a skilled marksman and fighter by her teenage years, and was the main muscle for her family, and had old fashioned tattoos adorning her body. She boasted more kills to her name than even her father.

The son, Zuko, was a fighter and warrior in his own way. The left side of his face was covered in a deep tissue scar that he'd gotten from his father as a means of punishment for a transgression. He was better at the managing end than his sister, and ran the family's lucrative pornography and prostitution rings. He also had cultivated deep relationships with members of the police force, the NPA. The NPA helped the Kasai family with their endeavors, and made them nearly invisible to law enforcement.

Ozai was behind the escalation of violence after The Flame. Grief mixed with pain and a longing for something, and there was much bloodshed as a result.

No one was immune to the actions of the warring families. Even though it started between the Kasai and Watari families, the others were affected as well.

The Khiéu family was from China, and had long held majority sway over the large country. They had expanded their workings to Japan in recent years, and were already making a mark. Their focus was in drugs, and their massive success in China bankrolled their start up in the new country.

The last, and smallest family were the Aihara's. Instead of dealing in flesh or goods or politicians like the other families did, the Aihara dealt in death. They were a group of highly trained assassins, and for the right price would kill anyone. Anyone the client asked for would be eliminated, from a dead-beat father to a Prime Minister, anyone was fair game, and everyone was dead. There was one rule; no killing between families. They set this rule to maintain order, to maintain a status quo.

However two decades after The Flame, and two decades of killing and deaths on all sides, the Aihara took the violence to a climax, and beheaded Ozai Kasai. Bringing the conflict, and the entire underworld to a stand still.

A meeting was called by the children of the slain man, the new heads of the powerful family that he so brutally ran. A meeting that would change the lives of everyone; not only in the families, but those of anyone even slightly connected to this world.


	2. Chapter 2

It was only the second time in a generation that all the families were together. It was dangerous, after all. One well placed bomb or call to the police about the location would forever change the reality of all their lives. So large gatherings like these were not common or encouraged. But this was a special occasion. Killing was common in their line of work, but not the death of one of the heads. It was a cause for pause, and for negotiations.

"I want to thank you all for coming. I know that meetings like these are a danger to us all, and I appreciate you all stepping outside your comfort zone. It shows me that you understand the importance of this shift in power, and the need for change."

Standing, he was dressed in a sharp dark blue suit, which covered the massive tattoos he had on his upper body, his long hair pulled back behind his hair in a tight knot. His very presence was so formiddable that you knew who he was, and you knew that you should listen to him. In any other context he could have been a high powered lawyer, or the head of a company. However because he was the son of Ozai Kasai, he was only one thing; a gangster.

"So many of our families and members of our organizations have died, needlessly. I understand that for so long these systems were born out of rage and out of pain. However like grief and life, we have to move on. We have to move past these differences and begin a-new. We have to have peace."

"Peace?!" the leader of the Khiéu family, Long Feng, snapped. He stood, pulling on his green suit to smooth it out. "It was your father who broke the peace!"

"Let my father's sins die with him!" Zuko called back. "All I ask is for an open mind and a willingness to work towards something better, for all of us."

"Why should we trust you?" Long Feng asked. "You are after all a Kasai! Who are we to listen to you?"

"Then don't! Don't listen to me. Let this way continue and go on. Let's see how long we can continue with these practices and procedures. How long it will be before your head rolls, just like my father's did."

Long Feng went to say something again, but was silenced by the dark hand of Hakoda Watari, quieting him. Long Feng knew better than to speak out in opposition to Hakoda. Everyone did. So he sat down, all the attention in the room going to the Watari head.

"I'm here to listen," Hakoda said in a clear, calm voice.

"Thank you." Zuko nodded in his direction.

His attention went to Gyatso, the monk-like head of the Aihara family, looking to the man for another approval to continue. Gyatso nodded as well, lips pressed together as he was silent. Zuko made eye contact with the man sitting next to Gyatso for a fraction of a second. The man was Gyatso's adopted son and heir-apparent, Aang. Aang scratched his nose softly, eyes locking with Zuko's.

"I understand that some of you might not be sold on this plan, and might even question my resolve in this matter. But I can assure you that my intentions come out of survival. For myself, my family, and all of us."

"What do you have in mind?" Hakoda asked, his children sitting on either side of him.

Zuko nodded, sitting down at the table, his sister next to him. Over the next half hour he laid out his plan. There was to be an immediate and total halt to the killing of one another's people. The lines of business would be consolidated and re-focused.

The Watari family would get out of the drug business. Leaving it once and for all to the Khiéus. Likewise the Khiéus would either shut down or give the Kasai's their holdings on select brothels around the region. Then the Kasai's would assist the Watari, and to a lesser extent the Aiharas and Khiéus, with their issues regarding law enforcement.

"How can you be of help with that?" Hakoda asked.

"I have an inside source, deep within the NPA." Zuko explained. "I can't give much information, for obvious reasons. But my source has access to critical and pertinent information regarding all of us."

Long Feng wasn't sold on the idea. "And we're supposed to take your word on this?"

"Yes." Zuko said clearly. "There has been far too much distrust among us these past decades. I think it's a fair request to ask for a little bit of faith."

There was stillness in the room. It was better than Zuko had hoped for. He half expected to be shot by even suggesting this.

Hakoda broke the silence, standing up. "I want some insurance. I want my people, with each of the other families."

"That's agreeable." Zuko said, with Long Feng and Gyatso agreeing as well.

"My son Sokka will go with you, Zuko. My daughter with the Aihara's, and my right hand man Bato with the Khiéu's. I want them to witness all these transitions. And if there is anything they don't like, if there is even a whiff of improprieties, I will hear about it, and I will react accordingly."

"That's fair." Zuko nodded.

"I agree," Long Feng added.

Gyatso finally stood up, his back hunched with age and arthritis. "I appreciate the offer. But I have to pass," he said in a voice just above a whisper.

"Pass?" Zuko asked.

"Yes." Gyatso smiled warmly. "I'm too old for such matters. I've been meaning to get out of the game for a while now. This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you."

It wasn't. He was the eldest of the family heads, and was the only man in the room who had witnessed the foundation of the current syndicate family. He was old and tried. He was looking to retire.

"I ask that you now recognize my son, Aang as the head of the family."

Zuko looked to Aang, who looked up at his father. "Father… I... "

"This is your duty." Gyatso smiled. "You've been the head in every other way for a while now. I just took this forum to make it official."

Aang nodded, looking around the room, locking eyes with Zuko for a fraction of a second. "Then yes." He stood, relieving his father, who sat down, already looking like there was a weight off his shoulders. "I accept the terms. And will support our endeavors of peace."

"Good. It's settled then," Zuko announced. He stepped from behind the table he and Azula were sitting at, walking to the center of the room. The other heads followed suit, all four of them meeting in the center. In a sort of sequence, each man bowed to the other, following it with a handshake.

And with that it was done. There was peace, but there was so much more than that to come.


	3. Chapter 3

She felt so much better now that her guns were back in place in the holster. They had to be checked at the meeting and she'd felt naked without them, unsafe, and not in control. That was one thing that she never liked feeling.

Everyone got the impression that she was this out of control element, that she was the crazy one who was all over the place in the family. And really if you looked at her next to Zuko, it'd be easy to make that mistake. He was the mouth, and always seems to have something up his sleeve, almost like he'd planned it. However if you knew Zuko you'd know that he left most things up to chance. He acted on gut, and usually was left with his 'dick in his hands' as a result.

That's why he surrounded himself with good people, people like his sister.

She was calculating, always thinking several moves ahead for herself and the other party. And then to factor in all the possibilities of what her stupid brother might do on top of that? It's a wonder her brain didn't explode. She was just good like that.

She did have to hand it to him, this meeting, the plan that they had worked out, did go off better than expected.

"This is why you walk into these things with a plan," Azula scolded him from across his big desk. "Things went very smooth this time."

"You say this time like you're surprised I didn't get killed."

"Well…" Azula stopped, chewing over her own words and thoughts. "I am."

Zuko, who had loosened his tie and let it hang around his neck, looked amused and disappointed. "I'm surprised too."

"I just hope your source holds up."

"She will," Zuko mumbled, "She's in deep, and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon."

"As long as you can keep it in your pants," Azula said in a flat voice, it making Zuko cringe.

"You leave all that to me."

"It doesn't work like that anymore. This entire plan hinges on her being able to feed us information. You can't fuck this up, if you do it's game over and we'll all be killed."

"It's not gonna get that far," Zuko assured her. "We both will make sure of it."

"Fine," she sighed. "I'm still not sold but I will trust you. Another topic for discussion. Did you know that Gyatso was going to retire?"

Zuko sighed, "I saw the writing on the wall. He'd been treating Aang oddly the past few months."

"Oddly?"

"Distant would be a better word. Just not as open as they used to be with one another."

Azula simply nodded, "I bet he didn't see it coming either, did he?"

"Not at all." Zuko ran his thumb nail over his lips, as if thinking.

"I don't think you should have sex with him anymore."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Why do you care so much all the sudden who I fuck?"

"Cause you're dealing with the head of another family. It's not like your cop girlfriend; no one cares if you fuck her, it's expected even."

"I frankly don't see how it's anyone's else's business. Aang and I have an understanding and I don't see how it affects anything."

"Because it's not just about sex. It's about power and the appearance of favoritism. You know that. No one cares about the sex, gay or not. But everyone cares that you take **him** into your bed."

Zuko tensed up, sitting his folded hands on his lap. Azula said nothing more about it, he was done with the conversation.

"I need to get going. I have a new housemate, it looks like."

"It would appear so. You alright with that?"

Azula shrugged. "Yes." She had a bit of disdain in her voice, eyes shrinking a bit. "Should be fun."

Zuko chuckled. "Yeah. Fun times for all."


	4. Chapter 4

Suki crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back against the desk as she looked at the bulletin board in her squadroom. It was covered with photos, documents and little notes holding even more information. It was all about the crime families, and what was needed to catch them. To bring them to justice.

It was all these little lines and connections that she memorized, that she took note of. This wasn't even her beat, she shouldn't even be seeing it. This was her partner Ayamu's pet project, and one that he kept very close to his chest. The board he kept hidden most of the time, turned away into a corner of the office. He'd taken it out to talk to a superior about it, hoping that have permission to work on the case full time. The request had been rejected, again, and while Ayamu was arguing in the next room Suki was looking over the board.

She had to remember everything that she could. All the connections and the assumptions that were being made. Hardly anyone looked at the syndicate these days, they had too many police officers in their pocket, and it was impossible to get anything to stick. The families didn't know this though. To them the threat of police action was ever present. Which is why she kept an eye out. Because that was what was needed of her.

Information was more valuable that all the hookers and drugs and land these people could buy, and they all knew it.

Ayamu came back into the office that they shared, huffing in annoyance. "Fucking idiot."

"Still no go?" she asked him, finally looking away from the board.

"He has no idea what this is." He motioned to the board. "No one want's to do shit with these people."

"Well no." She shrugged, "Not us. I keep telling you that the Intelligence Agency must be doing something with them. This just isn't our problem."

"But it is." He sighed. "This is the issue of everyone in this country. We're all affected by it. It's why we should be doing this, why we should be investigating it."

Suki reached out, rubbing his back comfortingly. "I know." She withdrew her hand, standing up off the desk and walking to the board. "You should keep this up, even if they won't support it."

"Ya think?"

She nodded, looking at the faces taped there. "I do. It will pay off one day." She locked eyes with the photo of a young man, the words 'The Son' written on an attached note. "Not sure when."

"Soon, I'd hope." Ayamu chuckled a bit, "You think he's handsome, don't you?"

"Who?" Suki asked, motioning to the man in question. "Zuko?" Ayamu nodded, making Suki just smile a bit. "Ya know, chicks dig scars."

Ayamu laughed. "Not untrue."

The board was taken down and the day went on. The facts that she learned rolling around in her head. She was only able to jot down her thoughts on the way to her car, finishing the notes when she was behind the wheel. She stuffed the notes in her bag, throwing it in the back seat before taking off.

She headed towards home, eyeing the streets for anything suspicious. It was on this scope that she saw someone in a dark hoodie, loitering around a corner that was known for criminal activity. She pulled the car to a stop across the street from the man. Suki stepped out of the car, motioning him towards her.

"Let me talk to you for a second," she barked at him.

He looked over in her direction, then around.

"Come over here," she said again, this time him complying. "What are you up to today?" she asked.

"I'm just hanging out." He called over, "Nothing wrong with that."

Suki squared her shoulders, "You and I both know you're not just hanging out."

"Listen cunt, I don't have to explain anything to you."

She put a forceful hand to his chest, knocking the breath out of him. She simultaneously grabbed his wrist, spinning him around the slamming him into her car. He grunted in pain as she cuffed him. "You will explain it to the people at the station then."

"Fuck you!" he yelled as she threw him into the back of her car. She got into the driver's seat, starting the car and driving away.

The man sat in the back seat silently as she drove. They made eye contact only once, but saying nothing more to one another about anything. Suki kept her eyes on the road, driving around for a little while, until they were in a different part of the city, one closer to her home. Suki stopped the car, looking back at the man.

"If I see you out there again, I'm going to arrest you. Understood?"

"Sure," he mumbled, looking away. Without another word he slipped out of the car, closing the door behind him. She watched him go, then looked at the back seat. Sitting there was the handcuffs that he's slipped off. She'd done them loose enough so that it'd been easy for him. The briefcase was gone, tucked under the arm of the stranger.


	5. Chapter 5

Azula had a tiny one room apartment, a corner unit that was rounded on the one side, the wall covered in large windows that overlooked a courtyard. She loved it. Loved that she got to come home from her hectic and violent job to this small, sparse place.

There was a small table and chair that seated one. A nearby chair Zuko'd gotten her that was for relaxing. She never relaxed in it, but more treated it as a "what if" someone came over. But no one ever did. There was a big bed taking up the entire bedroom area, with a small closet on the one wall. It was filled, in equal parts with business suits, work out clothing, and guns with matching ammunition. It was perfect, all of it.

And now there was this man coming, that she somehow had to wedge into all of this.

She didn't think about how this would go until he was in the doorway, looking at her. He was a head and half taller than her, blue eyes piercing through tan skin. The sides of his heads were shaved, the rest of his hair pulled back in a bun like the one Zuko wore. He dressed sharply, a leather jacket over a blue t-shirt, sharp jeans and boots. He looked like he'd just stepped off a motorcycle, a brown leather bag over his shoulder.

She inspected him, thinking for a second that he was good looking. For a Watari. "Come on in, I suppose."

He bowed softly, walking through the door. He slipped his boots off in the entryway, sitting them next to her's. Azula looked at the size difference between the two shoes, knowing that this was a sign of things to come. She actually cringed.

"So this is it?" he asked, walking down the small hallway and into the room. He looked around with a soft smirk, "I would have thought the Kasai's would have been able to afford a bigger place."

"I can afford whatever I like." Azula snapped, "And this just so happens to be what I like."

Sokka laughed to himself, "If you say so…" He gave himself a tour, ducking around the corner to look into the bedroom. "Is that bed big enough for the two of us?" he joked.

"Trust me." She growled, "You will have nothing to do with that bed."

"Then wherever will I lay my head?" He grinned, "After all, we are to be bosom buddies. For the sake of our families, naturally."

Azula rolled her eyes again, motioning to a glass door along the far wall. "There is a space for you in here." She lead him over there, opening the door to show him a small space, barely big enough for him to lie down in. She'd placed a cot in there, a few simple blankets laying on it.

"Is this… a closet?"

"Well it's a storage area that I used to work out in." She motioned to a hook in the ceiling. "Usually I hang my punching back up in here. I took it down for you."

"How sweet of you." He sighed, sitting his bag down by the door and looking around the apartment. "I can't live here."

"Sure you can. I do, no problem."

"Well, sorry I'm not pocket-size like you, fire princess." He sighed, annoyed. "How about we rent a bigger place."

"Because I like this place, this is my home."

"This place sucks."

"Shut up!" she yelled, making Sokka jump. The smaller woman got right up in his face, her eyebrows creasing and face red. "You're going to stay here and sleep in here and you're going to be out of there by 7 a.m. every morning so that I can do my boxing! This entire thing was your father's idea and I don't like it either so we have to make the best of it! Understood?!"

Sokka nodded ever so lightly, a small smile spreading across his lips. "Understood."

"Good," she snapped. "Now I'm gonna go make some tea while you get your fucking closet in order." She left him by the door,heading towards the small kitchen. Sokka grinned, watching her walk away with an interested gaze.


	6. Chapter 6

They met for the first time when they were 11. Her father was a sergeant with the NPA, a well known face on the force that drew people to him. His father had been one of them. Ozai saw an opportunity in Suki and her father. He knew that marriage, and more important, a child, would forever link the man to him, and that there were limitless possibilities in having a cop in his total control. Her father even wanted this. He was willing to give over his daughter to secure his position with Ozai, and with this family.

Ozia thought about taking Suki for himself. However in good conscious he couldn't touch the girl till she was at least 16. He was many things, but a child molester wasn't one of them. Then if you factor in all the time it would take for her to get pregnant, it would just take far too long. He needed something quicker. That was a large period of time that Suki and her father wouldn't be working for him.

So he turned to his son, who was only a few months older than Suki. He thought it would be a good way to make Zuko into a 'man' and get Suki where he wanted sooner.

Every day Suki would walk home after school, going to her neighbor's house while her mother and father were at work. This house was the same one that Zuko had been at all day, receiving his schooling.

In the beginning they studied together, playing after things were done. Their caretaker helped them, but mostly stayed out of the way, letting them do whatever they wanted. Over the next several years they grew together, and grew closer. When he'd received a severe burn on his face from his father as punishment, she helped take care of him. She helped nurse him back to health. And after so long they did what teenagers left alone do.

They were 14 the first time they had sex, tucked away in one of the upstairs bedrooms. They were in love after all, so this seemed like the next step in what they were.

Their fathers celebrated, toasted to their own personal success.

Suki eventually stopped going to school, getting her lessons along with Zuko, their alone time almost always spent together in private. It wasn't even sex to them, it was just expression of affection and love and the fact that they were bored. What better way to spend time together than like that.

Suki's belly started to grow one day and it didn't stop. She was three months shy of her 16th birthday. They told no one, treated it as their little secret. She'd strip, laying in bed with Zuko kissing and loving her changing body. She'd giggle as he kissed whispers of their future, away from the pain and the violence of the Yakuza to their baby.

Eventually Suki's mother Nori caught on, discovering the pregnancy. Suki'd never seen her so angry. Before this she'd been apathetic to the goings on with her daughter and the boy. Left it in the hands on her husband. The discovery changed everything though. She'd struck Suki several times, leaving her with a bruised face and bloody lip. Nori swore that she'd never see the boy again, that this baby would never be born.

Suki wanted the baby, the one that was bore out of her love for Zuko. And there was no way that Ozai or Suki's father would let anything happen to the child.

One morning her mother was gone from their apartment, and then the next day Zuko was there, and he stayed. They lived as husband and wife for the rest of the pregnancy, bickering and making up just like those twice their age would. It was the happiest times of their young lives.

She went into labor on a Monday morning, and by lunch there was a big, beautiful, healthy baby boy. They named him Ryo, after the baby that had died with Zuko's mother. They kept touching him, kissing him, thinking that there was nothing in this world as perfect as he was. If they thought the pregnancy was amazing, the first week of his small life was even better.

Nori came back one day, holding her grandson with a swelling pride in her eyes. Suki was so happy to have her back. So happy that she could be a mother, with her own mother's help.

One week after his birth Suki woke up sick, her entire body hurting with some new, totally unknown illness. She wanted to stay in bed, but knew that Ryo needed to be fed. She slowly sat up in bed, reaching out for Zuko who'd been sleeping in the same bed with her, asking him to get her something to drink. She looked over into Ryo's bassinet that sat by her bed, reaching out for the baby.

His skin was pale, lips purple. When she picked him up the warmth and comfort that his small body had produced gone. She didn't dare think it, but she knew he was dead. She screamed the boy's name, her entire body shutting off from panic and sorrow, leaving her in a puddle of a human being on the floor.

They said it was SIDS. That sometimes it simply happens, that babies just die in their sleep. This was of little to no comfort to his parents. Suki was a ghost of herself, she didn't speak for three days, sat alone staring off into space as everyone worked around her. Zuko and Nori took care of the arrangements, picking out the little outfit for the wake and funeral, the plot in the family cemetery where his ashes would be placed. He went next to his grandmother Ursa, and namesake uncle.

Suki seemed to get better after the burial. She was talking and responsive. She and Zuko would hold one another as they cried. It was also after this that Nori vanished. She was just gone one morning and Suki never saw her again. She didn't give it much thought. She felt as though she was maxed out on grief for one lifetime. It was so much for a 16 year old girl.

She wasn't the same. Something had shifted with her. She talked to Zuko about the things that'd happened when they were kids. About how they had had their innocence stolen by one another, how it wrong what happened to them. She said they were both 'victims and perpetrators' and that their fathers had done this to them both.

They had sex again five months after Ryo died. There was the same tenderness, the same love, but there was something different that neither of them could shake. It was while holding one another in bed afterwards that she told him they couldn't see one another again. That every time she looked at him she thought about what he'd taken from her, she hated herself for what she'd taken from him. She thought about their son. It was killing her. She needed space.

"What makes it worse, is that I love you with everything I am," she had whispered to him. "I always will. Your name is engraved onto my soul and I will never, ever shake it off. Which makes it so much harder to do this."

They cried together, holding and kissing one another. Then she packed her things and left. They didn't see one another for over a decade.

It was at her father's funeral that the familiar, asymmetrical face stuck out. He'd grown so much, and was a man now. Just like she was a woman. After the crowd had dispersed he went to her, saying how sorry he was for her loss. She heartily thanked him, making a comment about how he shouldn't be seen with her, how it was dangerous. He said he didn't care, he just wanted to see her. They embraced tightly, both of them knowing that they would never let go again.

Now they did it on their own terms, in their own way. They entered it thinking that it would be starting over, but it was actually starting again. They were still in love, and it quickly became just as wonderful, if not more so than the old days.


	7. Chapter 7

Suki leaned up, kissing him as he closed the door to her apartment. He had on the same hoodie from earlier, her briefcase tucked under his arm. She pulled away from the kiss, punching him in the arm.

"What the hell did you call me a cunt for?"

He winced dramatically, "It was for effect, no need to hurt me!"

Suki rolled her eyes, "You deserved it."

"You still like me though." He grinned.

She sighed, annoyed with herself more than him. "I know..."

I'd been six years since finding one another again, and they had a pattern. It could be dangerous to be together in public, and so their time together was relegated to her small apartment or his loft, both of which the other had to sneak into. They saw one another two to three times a month, each time spending a night or two together. It was a break from their normal lives to be together, and they savored the opportunities.

They had waited a year before they had sex the second time. They wanted to take it slow, for obvious reasons. However when they finally had sex it was incredible. Suki'd ran her fingernails over his strong, tattooed shoulders, loving the body that he'd grown into. She'd been worried about him not liking her body. She wasn't 16 anymore, after all. However Zuko took just as much joy in her body as she took in his. He loved the changes, and made sure she knew that. He made sure she knew that every time.

Now they sat together on the bed naked, talking in muffled voices about the recent developments. His head was in her lap, her fingers running through his long hair. "Will Aang be ok with the new job?" she asked.

"I think so. He's a better leader than he thinks he is."

"I know. He's a good man."

"Says my girlfriend about my boyfriend," Zuko chuckled.

Suki replied with a giggle, her head leaning over onto her shoulder.

He looked up at her with lidded eyes, "It's complicated."

"Oh baby... If I wanted simplicity I would marry a postman."

"But then you wouldn't get this sweet cock," he growled playfully, reaching down and grabbing at himself.

Suki laughed loudly, shoving his head off her lap. "Stop it." Zuko laughed as well, sitting up so he could kiss her, both of them laying back down on the bed in a sensual embrace.


	8. Chapter 8

There was an old buddhist temple that had been abandoned over 40 years ago. While it had been left by the monks and nuns, it was still full of life of a different kind. They never tattooed their bodies, believing that it separated them from their other Yakuza brethren. In every other way they were like the monks who lived there years ago; meditating and training most of the day. The difference was that there was much more killing in their lives.

They would be recruited from all over the world. Sought out for their discipline and skills in martial arts, individuals of all bending persuasions were invited to join the family. Very few of them were actually related, the lifestyle not affording many opportunities for procreation. It didn't change the family-like atmosphere, the fact that any of these people would die for another.

And at the center was the new head of the family. He didn't look like a boss, tall and lanky with lean muscles, a short beard on his chin. He was known among his men for having a good personality, for being stern with his pupils, but the first to put it aside and have fun with the same students. He was a good man to be their new leader, everyone thought so.

However when a dark skinned women showed up the temple, three suitcases in tow, the last thing she thought Aang was was worthy. She looked like something out of a fashion magazine. Designer black heels, a fur vest over a blue dress. Together they all looked like they cost more than his entire wardrobe combined.

"It's so dirty." Katara mumbled, looking around. "Don't you ever clean here?"

Aang looked around, really looking. "I guess not."

"Why not?" Katara asked, "I thought you people were supposed to be monks or something."

"Well I guess we don't feel the need to. More important things to do, and as long as the place is functional we don't care so much how it looks."

"I can see that," she mumbled. "So where in this shit heap shall I be lucky enough to lay my head?"

Aang shook his head, "Women's dormitory, this way." He motioned for her to follow him, shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets. They walked silently, a large suitcase rolling behind her, two across her shoulders. She was thinking about how odd he he was. That he didn't carry himself like a boss. He strolled casually, like a University student on his way to class. He even looked like one, his dark hair messy and unkempt. She'd seen him in a suit at the meeting, and had even thought then how nice he looked. It was nothing like what she saw now though.

"So are you really in charge now?" she asked, more disdain in her voice than she planned. "You seem a little young."

"I'm 30." He laughed, looking back at her, noting how she was having issues wheeling her suitcase along the uneven sidewalk. "Zuko's only 4 years older than me and he's running his family no problem."

"Well that's him." She felt the heel of her shoe getting stuck into one of the cracks. "Damn it," she cursed, looking at the scuffed red soul of her shoe. "Brand new."

"I hope you packed something a bit more functional for living here." He reached out, taking the rolling bag from her. "Give me one of those."

She did as she was told, Aang slinging the bag over his square shoulder. "I didn't think I would be camping."

"Well you thought wrong." He grinned back at her, walking with her things to her new room. It was the guest room, and the best one in the dormitory, but was still far below her standards. This was apparent by her look of disgust and disappointment.

"I suppose this will have to do," she sneered.

"I suppose it will. Morning meditation is at 6 a.m., followed by breakfast."

"That early!?"

"Yes, and I'd be up if I were you. We work hard before lunch and you'll need the food."

Katara huffed in annoyance, which just only made Aang smile more.

"Welcome to the family."


	9. Chapter 9

Azula had woken up at 7 a.m., like she always did. Didn't even have to set an alarm anymore. On instinct her work out clothing was put on, shoes and socks along with a sports bra and leggings. She was stretching as she walked from the bedroom into the main room, preparing herself for the work out she was about to do.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw the large pair of feet sticking out of the door that was her simple workout center. In her early morning haze she'd forgotten all about him. But there he was, still asleep and snoring loudly. Azula rolled her eyes, nudging him with her foot.

"Come on, savage," she grumbled, noting the way that his hair was unkempt and there was a spot of drool on his pillow.

He said nothing, but just seemed to shift in his sleep.

Azula groaned to herself, saying in her head that she was going to give him a little bit of a break. It was his first day here after all. She did crunches on the floor, push up against one of the walls, jogging in place while looking out the window at the hazy morning.

It was a half hour later and he was still sleeping, still snoring loudly. Azula needed to do her boxing, as it was the last part of her workout that she needed. And she did need it. It was a way to relieve stress before she started her day. The last thing she needed to bring of to her job was stress. Stress made you weak, it made you messy, it got you killed.

She had to do it.

"Sokka wake up!" she called down to him, pulling on his foot roughly.

He gasped a bit, rolling onto his stomach. Azula pulled on his foot harder, teeth gritting. He finally responded, lifting his head up off the pillow. "What's wrong?" She flicked the heel of his foot, sending a small current of lightning into his skin. He yelped loudly, sitting up in his little cot.

"The fuck was that?"

"Motivation," she snapped. "Now get your ass up."

"What time is it?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"Seven thirty."

"Who the fuck gets up that early?"

"You do now." She smirked. "I need to do my workout in here. Get up."

Sokka groaned, pulling his blanket up around his bare, heavily tattooed chest and crawling out of his cot. A hand went to his lower back, looking like he was supporting a kink from sleeping on the thin mattress. Azula went into the closet, lifting the cot up and onto it's side, giving her more room in the small space. Sokka watched her with a concerned glare, following her as she went into the bathroom.

"The fuck are you doing?" he asked.

"Well I had to stash my bag someplace," she said, grabbing her punching bag out of the shower and bringing it back into the main room. It was a smaller bag, perfect for the size and not too heavy for her to carry. She hung it up on the hook in the ceiling of the small room, grabbing some boxing gloves off the top of the bag.

"Well then," Sokka mumbled, standing with the sheet around him. "I'm gonna take a shower, would that be ok with you, your majesty?"

"You do you," she called back, starting to hit her punching bag. Sokka shook his head, walking to the bathroom to take his shower.

Azula took to her boxing, her mind focused as she punched the bag over and over again, her eyes fixated on the target. It allowed her to relax, to let the thoughts that were weighing her down roll over and off her and into the bag that she was hitting, beads of sweat rolling down from her hair of falling onto her body.


	10. Chapter 10

He was draped across her bed as she made breakfast, looking over the documents that she'd given him last night. Right after she gave them to him, he'd ran to a nearby safe house and made copies so that she could have them back. Missing originals would be dangerous after all. He'd not seen the papers till now though.

"Are you sure about these numbers?" he called into the kitchenette of her small studio apartment.

"Should be. If it's on there then that's the most accurate thing we have."

He sighed, sitting the papers to the side as he sat up, rubbing his tired eyes. "I don't know how they even have all this," Zuko mumbled, getting off the bed and going to join Suki, sitting at the counter. "I thought you said it was just the one guy."

She checked on the rice that was being made. "It is. He can't even get backing from the station chief for the investigation."

"How's he know so much then?"

She shrugged, dishing out some of the rice into bowls before adding a cracked egg to each one. "I have no idea how he has all of this. I don't think he has a life to be honest."

Her chuckle didn't make him feel better, in fact there was a bit of a sinking feeling in his stomach. "It worries me that he knows all that. I mean they even have my address."

"And your sister's."

"So why aren't they pounding down the door already? Why don't they arrest us? All of us."

"For what? As far as they can prove you're an unemployed man in his 30's."

"But he has all those figures."

"Yeah, but it's all his own speculation. It's tax records and hours of Google searches. Nothing was gotten with a warrant, nothing would hold up in court, and nothing would lead to your arrest." She had dished up their food, cracking an egg over the rice before handing it to him. "You have nothing to worry about, he won't even get close to you. I'll make sure of it." There was a dark edge to his voice, which he'd be lying if he said he didn't love it.

"I believe you." He grinned, eating his breakfast.


	11. Chapter 11

Her first day as a member of the Aihara family hadn't gone as planned. She'd woken up on time, but had had no time to do her hair or makeup, leaving her looking like hell. With all the things that they were making her do she didn't have time to freshen up either, so it was even worse as the day went on. It really was the worst case scenario for her.

The one good thing about it was the fact that she got to beat some people up. They trained nearly all day in various intensities and fashions, most of which left her breathless and feeling empowered. The Aihara family was known for being the more dangerous and skilled of all the families, and she was being able to not only keep up, but win from time to time. Sure she landed on her ass here and there, but that was also to be expected.

There were a few waterbenders in the family, and they were eager to train with a member of the Watari family, especially with Katara.

"Is it true that you're a bloodbender?"

Katara was taken off guard by the question from her host. He was supervising some of the training with the waterbenders. Katara'd shown them a new technique that she said she'd come up with on her own, which was a partial truth.

"Why do you ask that?" she asked Aang, feeling oddly self conscious.

"That move you just did. The lines and motions are not like anything I've ever seen."

"So why do you think it's bloodbending?"

"Well I've seen hundreds of moves over the years, dozens of styles, in all bending dipinlines. And I've never seen moves like that. Bloodbending is the only thing I've not encountered so…"

"You need to stop listening to the bedtime stories of your young ones," Katara said as she rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows bloodbending doesn't exist."

"I'm not so sure about that," one of the other waterbenders interjected. "There have been reports of it being used against people in the past, even recently."

"There was a man killed with it just last year, a member of the Ishida family I believe," another added.

Aang nodded, looking over his guest. "Both Ishida and Kasai.

"Rumors," Katara insisted. "I've been studying waterbending all my life. I'd like to think that I'd be able to bloodbend."

"Sure," Aang huffed. "If you say so." he mumbled, walking away. Katara's eyes narrowed as she watched him.


	12. Chapter 12

Azula'd found the day more productive than planned. She left the house thinking that Sokka was going to be all jokes, taking nothing, not even himself, seriously. However she found quite the opposite. The first example of this came in their very first task of the day.

There was a small brothel that was part of the Watari family's holdings. As part of the agreement with the families it would be given to the Kasai family. It was supposed to be a simple transaction, just letting the owners know that they would receive protection from, and accordingly pay another family. The entire thing was framed to be very simple for those affected, Zuko had insisted that this be part of the process after all.

This particular brothel was owned by an older man and his prostitute wife, both very much set in their ways. The very thought of change, in any way, sent them both reeling. The husband was yelling and threatening them, the wife encouraging him from a door frame behind him. All of this was upsetting the girls who were working at the time, making the entire thing even more frantic.

Azula had no patience for the girls, and ignored them as she talked to the owner. However the overreacting of the girls soon caused the situation to become much more tense. Right away Sokka took them all into the backroom, talking to and calming them. He was quite charming after all, as well as good looking. All he needed was to flash those baby blues and a silly grin. They were putty in his tan hands and soon they were back to their normal chatty selves. Sokka'd told them to wait in the room for a while, that he'd promise to make things better.

He found Azula still fighting with the owners. They didn't trust her, they said. How could they, after all. She was one of 'those Kasais'. Sokka swooped in, not with the same charm and finesse that he did with the girls, but with a commanding and oddly calming demeanor. He'd worked with them before, and assured them, over and over again that they were going to be alright. That the Kasai's were honorable people, that he personally vouched for them, for her.

The owner and his wife had calmed down right away. Azula was impressed, flattered even. The next two places they went were more of the same thing. They worked together, but Sokka always seemed to have the last and best word. There was something about him, even she had to admit.

"You were good today," she told him as they had dinner at a noodle restaurant near her building. "Here I was thinking you were a ladies man with no use."

"Oh, I am." He grinned, "I'm just useful despite those things."

"If you say so," she groaned. "This was a good start. A few more days of this and we'll be good. The quicker the better, after all."

"Come on." He grinned. "You just got done saying how I was useful."

"Useful yes, but you're still annoying and a pain in my ass."

"Aw, come on," he joked, putting a hand over his heart in apparent hurt. "Is this about this morning?"

Azula cut her eyes at him, "You knew I was in the apartment, and you STILL came out of the shower naked." Sokka gave her a rolling laugh, making her even more mad. "What kind of man does that to a women?"

"A true ladies man." He smiled, winking a bit. She huffed at the inference. "Come on. About time you see what a real man looks like. Not one of those Kasai underlings you likely spend your evenings with."

"First, you have no idea who I spend my evenings with. Second, I don't wanna see what YOU look like down there for anything. I don't feel like polluting my mind."

"Pollute your mind?" he laughed. "God, you're like a monk. Live like one too. You might as well go live in the temple with the Airheads."

"They are a noble people!" she corrected him. "Not like you would know anything about that."

"You're just saying that 'cause Aang is pretty much your brother-in-law." He smirked. "Or should I say sister-in-law."

Azula's face flushed red, looking at him with harsh eyes. "Watch your mouth. That's the head of a family that you're talking about. His relationship with my brother has nothing to do with the level of man he is. No one judges you over the people you take into bed, and they should be afforded the same thing."

Sokka felt a tinge of guilt, She was right, after all. He didn't care about who people were fucking, let alone the two men in question. But he couldn't to let her win; now could he?

"I don't really give a fuck," he said, neither admitting defeat nor victory. "It's not important."

"Damn right it's not," she said, turning her attention to her noodle bowl.

"You stand up for him a lot, don't you? Too much, even."

"I do what I must for my family, that's all. Just like you would."

"You're extra good about it though. And why wouldn't you be, all of this hinges on him. Him and his source."

"I do do all those things."

"So who is the source? What's the relation to your brother?"

Azula sighed, "Why are you being so annoying today?"

Sokka grinned, "Cause you complimented me."

"Well, I'm done with this conversation." She stood up, apparently having lost her appetite.

Sokka reached out and grabbed her arm. "Come on." He smiled. "You can tell me. You can trust me, remember?"

Azula rolled her eyes, looking down at at him. "If I tell you something about the source will you let me be?"

"Sure." He smiled. "Anything you want."

"I want you up at 7 a.m." Sokka groaned. "And I want you to not walk around naked. Ever again."

With a sigh, Sokka nodded. "Fine fire princes."

She smiled coyly. "I can tell you that the source and my brother are none of your fucking business." She smirked, pulling away from him and walking to the front door of the restaurant to leave.

Sokka blinked slowly, thinking for a moment as she walked away. After a moment his eyes lit up, lips parting. "Huh."


	13. Chapter 13

Suki'd had her groceries delivered, as usual. It was all part of her cover. She was known by her neighbors to be all work. On her days off she was in her apartment and didn't ever leave, and no one thought that was odd. They might have thought that someone was in the apartment with her, but had no way of knowing for sure. The walls were thick, one of the benefits of the place.

Zuko was hiding in the bathroom when the delivery man came by with the food and other items, emerging after he was sure they were alone again. They made dinner together, talking about both of their jobs, about Azula, about Aang. A fly on the wall would think of them as a boring married couple. As two people in their early 30s spending the day together in a state of domestic tranquility.

He was looking through the bag of things that still needed to be put away, noting what it was that was missing. "Where's your birth control?"

Suki looked up from the dumplings she was working on, "Get this, I'm too old for it."

"Too old?"

"Yeah, apparently after so long it no longer works and it's useless to take it."

"Useless?"

"Yeah. Something about hormones." She waved it off, "I don't get all that health stuff. The guy talks at me like I'm supposed to understand it all but it goes one in ear and out the other."

"So what are we gonna do for contraceptives?"

"I'm gonna have a tubectomy next month. So then we won't have to worry about it anymore."

"A what?"

"Um, what do you call it... Oh, tubes tied."

He looked at her from across the kitchen at her as she was rolling dumplings, a pulling feeling in his stomach. "Why?" He sounded more alarmed, more hurt than he planned on. But he was hurt after all.

"Why what?"

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, 'cause I'm too old for the pill," she laughed. "I just told you."

"But then you can't get pregnant ever again."

"Well, that is the idea."

"But what about us?"

She looked up from the dumplings, eyebrows gathered in curiosity. "What are you trying to say?"

Zuko walked over by her, standing next to her with his hands reaching out and findings their places on her hips. She thought to pull away from him, as if she knew what was going to come next. She didn't though, and he spoke the words: "I want to have a baby, Suki."

Suki's posture and expression changed, the dumpling that she was holding falling apart in her hands. This was the one thing that they never talked about, for obvious reasons. Even now it was clear that this was the last thing she wanted to hear or talk about.

She pulled away, averting her eyes.

"I love you," he continued. "And I want to love you in every way that I can and do. And I want you to stop living this double life and just live with me and our family and-."

He was cut off by her shoving herself away from him. "I don't care about that."

"You don't care that I love you?"

"I don't care about the family stuff. You KNOW how I feel about that stuff."

"I know how you feel and I want you to feel different and I think that if you get that done it'll be like your mind is made up and it's never going to change."

"Well, I'm not going to change!" she snapped. "I don't want to change and you know why!"

"I KNOW!" he yelled. "I know why you don't want to change and I know why you're scared, but I think it's for silly reasons and I still love you and I still want a baby and I want you to want one too!"

Suki waved him off, turning her back on him, leaving her dumplings all over the counter.

Zuko just groaned. letting her walk into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. He'd pressed her too hard, asked too much of her. Especially with this week being the anniversary of what it was.

"Damn it," he mumbled, cursing himself for should have knowing better.


	14. Chapter 14

As far as Katara was concerned Kya Watari was the best woman to ever walk to earth. She'd been born into a normal family, middle child, good parents, nothing that would suggest how she would spend the last years of her life. She'd met and fallen in love with Hakoda, married into the family, into the cruel world of Yakuza. But she wasn't one of them. Never was and never would be. Kya had never given into the evil, into the darkness of the Yazuza. She'd always been a force of good, even in the midst of all that sin, and people gravitated towards her for it.

Katara missed her mother, but was half glad that she didn't live to see how things were now, how she was now. She wasn't strong like her mother.

A hand smoothed out against her lower stomach as she sat alone in her room, the women saying a prayer for her mother's forgiveness.

"Not feeling well?" a voice asked from her door.

"Don't you knock?" she snapped, looking at the tall Airbender. "I swear you people have no manners."

"So before we were monks, and now we're rude?"

"You can be both." She stood from her bed. "What do you want anyways?"

"I wanted to see if you were feeling ok."

"I'm fine," she insisted. "I mean all I've had today is rice and eggs."

"There was tofu for dinner," Aang added with a grin.

"Rabbit food," Katara snarled. "You didn't answer my question."

He was running his fingers through his hair, looking at her with a lazy look. "What question?" Katara growled, which made Aang laugh. "Calm down, it's fine."

"Then why are you here?"

"Well, I came to ask you to teach my men and women how to bloodbend."

"I told you today I'm not a bloodbender."

His broad shoulders shrugged. "Yeah I know you told me that, but we both know you are."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" she barked, trying to barge past him. Aang put his hand on her shoulder, pushing her back into the room.

"Yes, I do."

"Well, you don't know anything!"

"Yes, I do," he laughed. "I know that you're a bloodbender and I know that you're the one who killed the men we were talking about earlier."

Katara crossed her arms across her chest, hip popping out in annoyance. "And how do you know all that?"

Aang leaned into her space, looking coy with a soft smirk. "I'm good judge of character. That high maintenance bitchy persona you put on is hiding who you really are."

"And who's that?"

"A killer." He smiled. "I'm one too, ya know? I'm around them all day every day and I can pick them out of the crowd. I knew what you were the second I met you and I was just trying to figure out how you got there. Now I know."

In an instant her demeanor changed. Her posture straightened, her chin raising, fierce blue eyes meeting his. She went from the mewling, complaining brat to what she really was. "So…" She cracked a small smile. "I must say I took you for a fool."

"Well, I am." He smiled, "But I'm not an idiot."

"That remains to be seen. And before you ask again, I'm not going to teach it."

"Why not?"

"Why would I? I'm the only person in the world who can do this, and I'm sure as hell not going to show your mismatched brats how to do it."

"Hey," he snapped, stepping forward into her space. It took Katara off guard. People who knew her, REALLY knew her, didn't dare confront her, yet here he was. "Don't talk about my family like that. If you wanna be selfish and keep this knowledge to yourself, that's fine. But you don't need to be mean."

"It's not selfish! It's what I have to do to survive."

Aang waved her off, rolling his eyes. "Everyone in this fucking world is out for survival, you're not special."

"You don't understand anything about survival!"

"What don't I understand? Enlighten me."

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be a woman, born into the family I was?! Knowing that you were going to be married off the to the highest bidder! That I would be treated as a pawn, as a walking breeding machine for a brutal Yakuza?"

Aang was going to say that it wasn't like that, but he stopped himself. He thought of the things Zuko'd told him about Suki and how she was treated as a teenager by the family, and he knew that she was right. That's how women were thought of in this world. They were, most of the time, currency.

"So I had to make myself valuable. I had to make myself more important than simply a vessel for the next shitty generation."

"And you did it with bloodbending?"

"I did it by being a killer," she hissed. "By showing no mercy and no fear. I did it by being more valuable as fighter than a woman."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry that you feel that way and that you were forced to become that."

Her breath hitched, blinking in surprise. She'd never heard someone say that to her. Her position in the family was delicate. People feared her, but needed her. She never felt like people cared. She knew they didn't care. Yet here she was looking into his gray eyes, finding solace for a fraction of a second. It was just long enough to allow her walls to come down, even just for a moment.

"Can I tell you something, something that I've never told anyone outside my family?"

Aang nodded. "Of course."

Katara looked down at herself, reaching for the hem of her shirt. "I learned bloodbending from an old woman named Hama. She taught me the technique, then as soon as I knew I could do it I killed her, but not before I used it on myself."

Katara lifted up her shirt, showing Aang her stomach. His eyebrows raised, looking at what looked like two light, but deep, hand shaped bruises. "You did that to yourself?"

"Yeah," she sighed, putting the shirt back down. "I didn't plan on there being a bruise forever. It just never went away for some reason. I guess that's what I get."

Aang nodded slowly. "What did you do to yourself?" he asked, almost hesitantly.

She thought about it for a moment before answering. "I took away the chance that I would ever be used by my family. I took away my ability to have children."

Aang should have been shocked, but for some reason this fit with her, with how he now understood she was. If she couldn't have children she would be of no use to those who would hurt her. Because she did that she was able to just be who she wanted to.

He could still see the pain, the suffering in her eyes. But he saw strength. He saw a woman who wasn't to be fucked with.


	15. Chapter 15

They'd made up before the dumplings were done. Love was made and feelings were soothed. It was the last night of their little vacation from the world and they didn't want do anything to ruin what time they had together. They didn't know when the next time they would be able to get together again would be, either. It could be next week, or it might not be for several months. It was the nature of their relationship, one that neither of them cared for, but accepted.

Zuko woke up alone in bed, the shower running off in the distance. He wanted to join her, but found the comfort of her bed to be too enticing.

"She'll come to me," he mumbled to himself, pulling the blankets over his head.

Sure enough she did; naked and pink from the shower, she sat on the side of the bed, reaching out and rubbing his shoulder. "Wake up, baby. We need to talk."

Zuko's ears perked, looking over at her. "How's that supposed to make me feel?"

"How's what supposed to make you feel?"

"That phrase, it's foreboding."

Suki giggled a bit, fingers running through his loose, shoulder length hair. "Well, don't think of it like that."

"Well, then talk," he sighed, "What's on your mind?"

She laid down on the bed next to him, hair wet on the pillow. "Were you serious about the baby thing. Like, do you really want one?"

He nodded without hesitation. "Yeah. I am. I want us to have a baby."

"That's not what I asked. I asked if you want a baby, not if you wanted one with me, but just one period."

"Yes. I want a baby. But I wanted that baby to be with you."

Suki sighed again looking up at the ceiling. "What if the baby… wasn't with me?" Zuko frowned, looking at her with an unpleasant expression. "I mean if you want a baby I don't want to deny you that."

Zuko rolled back onto his stomach, pressing his face into his pillow. He didn't like where this conversation was going in the least little bit.

"I mean, you're around all those girls, one of them might able to give you a kid. You could raise it on your own, you and Aang or something."

"No," he mumbled into the pillow a few times.

"What?"

He lifted his head off the pillow, not looking at her as he spoke. "You're missing the point. I don't want any kid, I want our kid."

Suki rolled over onto her side, facing him while running a lazy hand over his back, "I know… But I don't want you to miss out on that 'cause I'm hung up on shit."

"Don't think of it like that," he whispered. "I think about Ryo all the time, about what life would be life if he was here. And I know you do too."

Suki's breath hitched, eyes closing and head shaking. "I never said I don't."

Zuko reached out, taking her cheek into his hand. "Then you shouldn't ever think that I would want anything other than that life. Anything else isn't good enough, it's a failure."

She nodded, moving her face into his hand. "Alright," she whispered.

"So no. I'm not gonna knock up some random hooker. So don't ask, ok?"

"Fine," she sighed. "But I'm still not sold on the baby idea."

"Well," Zuko rolled over onto his back, sitting up and looking down at her. "I'll take 'not sold' over 'hell no'."

Suki rolled her eyes. "Well, you'll just have to live with that."


	16. Chapter 16

Katara intentionally stayed away from Aang most of the next day. She saw him constantly, true, but she was avoiding him at all cost. He knew too much, and when people knew too much she stayed away. It was a matter of survival, more or less. However, after lunch she found herself in the same small hallway with him, one that she couldn't avoid him in.

"Are you mad at me?" Aang asked, looking a little sad.

"Yes," she snapped, trying to nudge her way past him.

Aang shrugged, turning to let her go. "Fine. Just remember that we have that meeting today."

Katara stopped, turning so they were facing one another in the small hallway, "Meeting?"

"Yeah, with Zuko and Azula. They are gonna give us the info from his informant."

Katara snarled, "That's right."

"What, not looking forward to it?"

"Zuko gives me the creeps."

"I see," Aang laughed to himself a bit, leaning back against the wall. "Can I ask why?"

"Well, first off the scar puts me on edge. He wears his hair up and you can see the messed up ear and it's unnerving."

He nodded. "It does have a certain look to it."

"It's ghastly is what it is. He's not even that handsome. I guess the long hair looks good on some but not on him. How could anyone be attracted to that?" Aang went to say something, but was cut off. "And he's far too bossy for my likes."

"Well, he is a boss."

"Hardly! He's too young for that kind of role. He should have had one of his father's underlings take control."

"A fair observation."

"And that sister! She's crazy!" This made Aang laugh again. "I'm serious. I can only imagine what Sokka's going through being with her right now."

"Well, you know they will be at the meeting too. You can console him if you like." His lips quirked into a smile. "You know there are rumors about you and him. Brother and sister in love."

Katara's face turned red, her nose wrinkling. "I don't know who you heard that from but it's WRONG! And SICK."

Aang threw his hands up in defeat. "It's just the rumor. Had you not heard that before?"

"I don't pay any attention to those. The gossip either. A waste of time, really."

"Huh," Aang huffed, "I see."

"Not like I'm missing anything anyways," she shrugged.

He flashed her the same large grin, his eyes twinkling a bit. "Right. Be ready to leave in an hour or so and we'll head into town. Sound good?"

"I suppose," she sighed, walking away. "I'll catch up with you later."

"Alright." He smiled, glancing at her before continuing on his way.

Katara shoved her hands in the pockets of her nice jeans as she walked. She's heard a few rumors here and there, despite the fact that she hated them. One of them was about someone that Aang was involved with, someone in another family. A man. 'Zuko?' she asked herself, but then quickly dismissed it.


	17. Chapter 17

Zuko had never met Sokka face to face. Sure they'd seen one another before, but a handshake, eye to eye contact, that was something else. It was now that they could size one another up, that they could speak, truly speak.

"It's good to finally meet you," Sokka said, a very small raise to his eyebrows. Zuko read it loud and clear. _I'm not impressed with you._

"Likewise." Zuko flashed a small, sharp smile, a nod to his head. _Nor I with you. But we both know we need each other._ "I do hope my sister isn't too much for you to handle."

"Not at all." Sokka mirrored his motion. As long as we understand one another.

Azula was standing to the side of them, hip pooped and lips snarling. "Do you two need a moment alone?"

"It's male subtleties," Sokka explained. "You wouldn't understand."

Zuko shot a glance from Sokka and Azula, looking for a reaction from her. If there was was thing he knew it was that his sister didn't stand for sexism. She'd killed men for making ill-timed jokes. It's part of the reason people respected her.

"I understand how to act in the absence of a tape measure sure enough."

Zuko smirked for a second, loving the look on Sokka's face. He wasn't used to being talked to like that, which made it even better. "Anyways," he interrupted. "How were the collections going?"

"Better than expected. We've only had one issue," Sokka explained.

"Anything overly problematic?"

"Shouldn't be," Azula added. "Tall, dumb and handsome here seems to woo everyone he talks to."

Sokka shrugged. "I do what I can."

"It's annoying really," Azula sighed. "But we're taking care of it. We have three more places to go and we'll be done."

"Good." Zuko nodded. "I thought it would take longer."

"Don't ever question us, Zuzu."

"Right," he scoffed.

"I have a meeting with my father tomorrow, he's wanting to know more about what it is that we're doing."

"Good, Hakoda shouldn't be kept in the dark. I can assume that your sister and Bato will be there too."

"Well Katara and Aang should be here soon. I think they are running late. And funny story about Bato…"

Zuko raised an eyebrow, "Funny?"

"Bato's been shut out. Long Feng won't let him in on anything."

Zuko cursed under his breath, arms crossing over his chest. "I had the feeling that was going to happen."

"It seemed like he was going to work with us," Azula said. "I wonder what changed."

"I'm not sure." Zuko held his chin in his hand. "The new information from my source didn't say anything about the Ishida family. I don't even have a clue what could be going on."

"Well, clearly they are doing something that they feel they need to hide."

"Right," Zuko groaned. "I'll look into it." He circled back around to his desk, reaching down to one of the drawers. There was a keypad there, which he typed a code into, opening the drawer. "I have something for you," he said to Sokka, pulling out a small stack of papers. "Some of the information has been redacted for security."

Sokka took the papers, looking them over. It looked like they were internal memos from inside the NPA. Just like he'd promised.

"You weren't fucking around," Sokka mumbled, looking them over.

"I would never fuck around about this," he replied. "I told you that I would deliver and I did."

Sokka sat down at the chair in the small office. "They have everything."

Azula settled in over his shoulder, looking at the paper work. She hadn't seen it yet, and was just as surprised as Sokka. "Do they have this on all of us?"

Zuko nodded, sitting behind his desk. "Both the families. A little information on the Aihara's, but not much."

"Why none on them?" Sokka asked.

Zuko cracked a smile. "I guess they don't see them as a threat."

A woman's voice cracked loudly in the room. "I'm starting to agree with them."

They all looked at the door as Katara, followed by Aang, walked though.

The three stood, bowing in welcome to the pair. Sokka's bow turned into a wide smile, greeting his sister with a large hug. "I've missed you, little sis."

"Yeah." Katara smiled. "I've missed you too."

Aang give a hapless smile in Zuko's direction, shrugging a bit.

"Not going well?" Zuko asked, giving a similar smile to Aang.

"Well enough," Aang replied, sitting down where Sokka had just been sitting. Sokka cut a glance at the man who stole his chair. Aang didn't seem to mind and just motioned to Katara, "I think the lack of a mattress is messing with her sleep schedule."

"You guys have mattresses," Azula told him from the chair next to him. "They are cots, but still mattresses."

"Very uncomfortable," Zuko added.

"It's making her cranky."

"I'm not cranky," Katara snapped, accepting the papers her brother offered to her. "I'm just getting used to the new housing situation."

"Same here," Sokka growled. "Getting up early has never been my strong suit."

"Neither has wearing clothing," Azula growled. "He promised me he wouldn't walk around naked and yet he did again, this morning."

"I did not. I slept naked, there is clearly a difference."

It just made Azula groan again, waving him off with an annoyed scoff.

"At any rate…" Zuko interrupted, trying to bring the group's attention back to the matters at hand. "We need to make sure that things are still going according the plan."

"Well they aren't really going anywhere on our end," Aang said, "Sadly life's been kinda dull around the temple as of late."

"We just train in a dirty temple and eat stupid food and sit quietly till we die of boredom," Katara said, still looking at the papers that Sokka'd given to her.

"We knew it was going to be like that for a time," Zuko added. "Sadly the Aiharas don't have holdings like the rest of the families do. It's not a measurable good that can be monitored."

"So you're telling me that I'm supposed to be this miserable?"

"Yep." Aang grinned. "And we're happy to have you."

Azula and Zuko both laughed at this, kind of enjoying the horrified look on Katara's face.

"At least she's not the only one struggling to keep up," Azula smiled. "At any rate Zuzu, your place seems to be going alright so far."

"It seems so," he mumbled.

Sokka raised an eyebrow, "You seem like you're surprised, like you didn't think it would work."

"I knew that if everything went into place things would work out. And I was right."

"Still not very re-assuring," Katara stated.

Azula cleaned her throat, "Listen, no one's more surprised than I am that Zuko came up with a good idea, but we need to start focusing on long term implications of this new system."

"But these are the implications." Zuko told her, motioning around the room. "Three families, working as one. Getting their shit done without fighting or killing."

"But you're talking about unity," Sokka cut-in. "You presented this like there would be stricter lines of division, that each of the families would have back their own turf."

"And by doing so they are in a better position to work together. That was never going to happen as long as we were all battling among one another for turf or territory, or even money. We were going to destroy one another that way. But when we focus on what we're good at, and then use our unique skills to help not only ourselves but one another, then we're unstoppable."

The room fell silent, the attendees looking at one another. Azula just smiled to herself. She wasn't THAT surprised that it was working out.


	18. Chapter 18

"The driver will take you back to the temple, I'll see you tomorrow."

"You're not going back with me?"

Aang shook his head, looking over at Zuko who was talking on the phone. "Nah, I'm gonna stay here tonight."

"Why would you do that?"

Aang looked over at Zuko again as he hung up the phone, "You know how you were talking earlier about how you think Zuko's ugly?"

He'd said it loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, including Zuko. Katara just blushed. "I-I never said that."

"Sure you did, you said his scar was ghastly and his hair looked bad."

Katara went to say something but was cut off by Zuko who walked up to them. "She's right, the scar is ghastly. But the hair?" He motioned his his head. "Looks great, if I do say so myself."

"Very handsome," Aang added, grinning. Katara went to say something else but Zuko and Aang couldn't be bothered to listen anymore. They started walking down the hall together, side by side. Aang reached out, raking Zuko's arm into his hands and draping it across his own shoulders before taking Zuko up around the waist as they walked away.

Katara rolled her eyes. "Fucking figures."


	19. Chapter 19

Bato sat down his bag, crossing the threshold into his small home near the Watari main house. Knowing that his wife was waiting for him, as she always was this time of night. He didn't get many quiet evenings with her in his youth; he was always running around for the sake of the family. So now that he was older, now that there were younger men and women to do the dirty work he got to relax at home with his wife.

The couple had had no children, and the only other living things in the house were their two cats. But they were both already dead by the time he arrived home.

He started talking to his wife, speaking to her about the day he'd had. It was when she didn't answer that he grew concerned. He walked into the common area of the house, finding his wife dead on the ground, her neck snapped.

He called her name, crouching down beside her. He didn't see the figure come up from behind him. Because he had his wife's body in his arms he couldn't react fast enough to the wire cutting in front of his field of vision, cutting in around his neck.

The last thing he saw was the vision of his wife's blue eyes as he died next to her.


	20. Chapter 20

Growing up, Zuko's favorite subject in school was history. Especially Japanese history. He loved to learn about all the old traditions and battles that were waged on the small island over the centuries. The one topic that really really stood out to him were the Samurais.

It was well known that the Kasai's could trace their linage back to the time of the samurai, and Zuko loved reading about them and their lives, thinking that his ancestors were among them. There was one aspect of it that really grabbed his attention. Older, more experienced men would take on pupils, who would often double as lovers. The exchange wasn't based off sexual desire, but of honor and duty to one's fellow warrior.

The thought of such a relationship excited him. That you could have a sexual relationship that was about honor was like a revolutionary idea to him. Even as a teenager he wished for such a relationship. He had Suki, yes, but what he had for her was more about love than honor, thus not fulfilling his desire.

It wasn't until he was 24 that he met someone who he thought might fill this desire.

It was tradition for the young members of the Aihara family to live in seclusion for the first part of their lives. They would only interact with other members of the family, hidden from the outside world. When the time was right they would prove themselves with their first kill. It was a cause for reflection and celebration. Especially when it was the son of the boss.

Zuko attended a celebration on behalf of his father to mark the occasion of just that. Aang bad been been 19 when he'd been introduced. Younger than most, but anyone who knew the young Airbender knew that he was up for it. Zuko liked him right away. They talked only briefly that night, but a friendship was started as a result. They would spar together, take meals together, sit up talking into the wee hours of the morning, cultivating something between them.

Zuko was fairly certain how he thought of their relationship, but knew that Aang might not be on the same page. He hadn't had anyone stable in his life like this since Suki left, and he'd longed for the companionship. Someone that was just his friend, someone that he could tell anything to.

I'd been Aang's idea to have the prostitutes come over that day. Said it might be fun to both fuck a girl in the same room. Zuko had been hesitating but after some coaxing he agreed. It was fun enough, a little awkward, but fun. Aang would be getting sucked off by the girl on the one side of the room, while Zuko was fucking his on the bed. They would make eye contact every so often, holding it for a second longer than appropriate.

When the girls left they'd both had their fill of the sex, but were still left unsatisfied. They were in the bedroom, both half naked and trying not to look the other in the eye. It was when their eyes finally met that the months of sexual tension and presumably unrequited lust exploded.

They didn't leave his bed for three days.

They'd been together ever since. Their relationship was more of an understanding than anything. They understood one another and how they felt about the other. It was more often than not the the most normal thing about their lives. They'd stayed together after Zuko'd re-united with Suki. It was another understanding, between the three of them this time; even though Aang and Suki had never met.

It felt more like marital bliss than anything most of the time, especially when Aang woke up with Zuko's arms around him the morning after the meeting. His phone was going off from the bedside table, waking him. He reached out of the fog of sleep grabbing it to find that it wasn't his phone, but Zuko's.

"Wake up, babe," he mumbled over to Zuko, nudging him with a bony elbow.

Zuko woke, rolling onto his back as he took his phone from Aang. "Yeah," he croaked into the device. The airbender laid his head on his partner's chest, curling up against him as Zuko listened to the person on the other end of the line. He was quiet, listening to what was being said.

Aang could tell by the way his jaw was tightening that it wasn't anything good.


	21. Chapter 21

He'd slept in again. Even though she'd asked him countless times not to. He was naked again too. Making an unpleasant situation even worse. She was thinking that things would finally improve but after this she was feeling stupid for thinking as such.

"Get up, ya big loaf." She pulled the blanket off him, wadding it up and throwing it as his head.

"Whhhhy?" he groaned, pulling the blanket back over his body.

"You told me that you were going to do better!"

He rolled over, laying on his other side with another groan.

Azula sighed heavily, pulling on his foot roughly. "I mean it!"

"Go away," he mumbled.

Azula stood up, making up her mind to do what she should have done days ago. She marched to the bathroom, grabbing her punching bag from the shower and marching it back to the closet.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked. Azula had walked over him, her feet on each side of him, balancing on the edge of the cot.

"I'm making do," she said down to him.

Sokka rolled onto his back, looking up at the women with a satisfied grin. He knew that she worked out and that she was quite attractive as a result. Anyone could see that, and he'd taken special note of this.

"You know..." Sokka sighed. "You're almost pretty."

"Almost?" she mumbled, hooking her punching bag up.

"Yeah." He reached up, a hand gripping the back of her knee. "If you weren't such a hard ass."

Azula looked down at where he was touching her. "What do you think you're doing?"

Sokka smiled, a hand lazily moving up her thigh. "You know, I think you like seeing me naked all the time, like having me here."

"You thought wrong," she snapped. In one fluid motion she reached out, grabbing his hand that had been on his thigh and pinned it up against his throat. She trapped his other hand under her knee which she pressed into the cot beneath them with her body weight.

Sokka smirked, twitching in pain as she pressed against his throat. "You're so hot," he mumbled, thrusting his hips up to meet her.

Azula's eyes widened, looking down at where he was pressing himself against her. She could feel how hard he was through her clothes. Hard and huge. "Wow," she mumbled, "Now I know why you're so popular with the ladies."

Sokka smiled, arching up to meet her. "And you've not even seen what he can do."

Her lips drew into a sneer, "I bet it's all bark and no bite."

"Only one way to find out who's right." He smirked. She returned it and and released her hold on him, just enough so that he could flip them both, pinning Azula down on her back. This was in part because of his strength, and in part because she let him. They kissed hard, his knee going between her legs to push them apart, a hand going to the crotch of her lycra shorts.

He was right.

Azula was left panting on the small kitchen floor, naked, hair a mess, her entire body liquid. Sokka was standing at the open refrigerator, chugging some orange juice hungrily.

"You think you're sooo good," she said up to him in a breathy voice.

Sokka glanced down at her before finishing the carton, sitting it back in the fridge. "No," he said, wiping his mouth with his forearm. "I know I'm good."

Azula laughed as he eyed her longingly, damn near pouncing on her again.


	22. Chapter 22

There were rituals to uphold in these types of situations. He was to be buried with all the honor and respect that his position entitled him to. It all had to be arranged, taken care of by Hakoda. He was the only family he had left, after all.

The police would have to be called on this, but only after they'd done what they needed to with the body. They knew that the police would keep it for a few days, making the time in which he could be mourned even shorter than normal. This bothered Hakoda, who just wanted to lay his friend's to rest. The bodies had been cleaned, placed side by side, with a small tray between them. Flowers, incense and a candle adorned the tray, filling the room with a musky spice.

Zuko and Aang had both shown up, offering their help and condolences. It did little good for Hakoda at present. He'd lost his best friend. And it was their fault, mainly Zuko's.

"We had no way of knowing that this would happen."

"Do you think I fucking care?"

The two young men exchanged looks. "No," Aang said. "We don't think that matters right now."

"I know it was Ishida," Hakoda said, pacing back in forth in Bato's small back yard. Neither Aang nor Zuko disagreed with him. No one else would make a hit on a high ranking member like this, not in this climate.

"You're right," Zuko echoed. "It was them and we have to react accordingly."

This drew pause from both Aang and Hakoda. They looked at Zuko, unsure if he was serious about what he'd just said.

"Are you serious?"

"What happen to the deal? I thought we were at peace?"

Zuko motioned to the three of them. "We are at peace. We work together. If they want to declare war on one of us then they declare war on all of us, and we all react accordingly."

"I don't know about this, Zuko," Aang mumbled. "You're talking about three families ganging up on a fourth. It's never been done before."

"And why's that an issue?"

"It's madness," Hakoda told them. "We can't do it!"

"Why not?" Zuko said in a stern voice. "You can't deny that you'd be more than willing to overthrow them, to be rid of them once and for all."

"I'm listening," Hakoda mumbled after a moment of tought.

"I can't believe this is happening," Aang sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What if I could finally rid you of the Ishida?"

"I'd say I didn't believe you."

"It's possible. We push them back to the mainland, re-take the drug market from them, letting you take over their network."

"You can't!" Aang laughed. "How would you even start that?"

"I don't know," Zuko admitted. Hakoda shook his head, looking away. "But I do believe it's possible. Give me a week, let me check with my source, let me think about it. I know there is a way for this to work."

Hakoda looked at him for a moment before nodding. "You have a week, then I want answers."

Zuko nodded. "Thank you for this opportunity."

Hakoda just nodded, Aang still stunned about what Zuko'd just agreed to.


	23. Chapter 23

The wake and funeral of Bato and his wife were carried out in the usual way. The two bodies, dressed in white kimonos, were mourned and burnt, their bones picked and put into an urn. They were placed in a plot near the rest of the Watari family.

He wasn't related by blood, but he was one of them, and would be for the rest of time.

Ayamu and Suki stood off a distance, watching as the family placed the ashes, noting who was in attendance. Hakoda was at the head of the party, as expected. He was flanked by his two children, as well as a few others that Suki didn't know by name, but had seen their faces.

There was one face that neither of them expected to see.

"I wonder what she's doing here," Ayamu mumbled to her.

"I'm not sure," Suki replied, looking her over. Azula was dressed in a black suit, as the others were, but she still stood out. She was the only one who wasn't Watari, and she was the only one on Sokka's arm.

"I bet they are fun at parties," Ayamu chuckled.

"I can only image," she replied. She'd not seen Azula in years. They had frequently played together while kids, and she's been around sparsely while she was pregnant and during Ryo's short life. She'd seen Azula grow up via pictures since then. She hadn't changed that much, which Suki found refreshing for some reason.

"You know it's interesting... How long have the Watari and the Kasai's been going at one another."

Suki motioned to Azula and Sokka. "Going at it like them?"

"No," he laughed. "The war, the families battling."

"Not sure." She shrugged. "Since The Flame I guess."

"Even before that. Long before either of us were born. And yet they both have their plots in this one cemetery."

Suki knew this before he said it. She'd been here many times before. As a child Zuko took flowers to his mother's grave for her birthday, a task which she almost always accompanied him on. She knew the Kasai plot well as a child, but hadn't seen it since her own son had been buried there.

"Come on," Ayamu motioned to the car they'd been standing in front of. They both jumped in the car, and after a short trip they find themselves at the expanse of Kasai plots.

"You know I wouldn't read too much into it," Suki said. She thought that if she kept talking she could hide the fact that she was panicking. "This is a really old cemetery and there are generations of Yakuza here, of all different families."

"I suppose," Ayamu said to both her and himself. They walked up to the newest of the plots. "I've not been here since Ozai died."

"It's a little weird that you visit their graves for fun."

"Not for fun, for brainstorming." He kneeled down in front of the graves. Ozai had the biggest plot, it noting the dates of his birth and death. There was another smaller one, belonging to Ursa Kasai and Infant Ryo Kasai. "They died in the Flame."

He then looked to the smallest of the plaques, eyebrows raising. "I never noticed this before."

"Noticed what?" Suki was looking every place other than where he was looking.

"I thought that they buried the unborn one on his own, which explained this one." He pointed to the smallest of the plaques, reading it. "Infant Ryo Kasai."

Suki felt her heart shatter, her large sunglasses hiding the tears gathering in her eyes. She had to get out of there.

"But he was buried with the wife, where did this other one come from?" he stood. "This stone isn't as worn as the one of the mother, it's newer." He scratched his head. "The burial records should be public. We can know when this one was placed here."

"What's it matter?" Suki finally croaked, her voice cracking more than she wanted it to.

"What do you mean? There is another person here that we have zero record of. This has to be something."

"Investigating is one thing. But disgracing the dead is low," she whispered. "Especially when it's a child." She turned on her heels and walked back to the car, leaving Ayamu alone. He watched her go, thinking that it was odd how she was acting.


	24. Chapter 24

"So you've not heard from her?"

Zuko shook his head. "Not since our last vacation."

Azula's lips pressed together worriedly, "She was there when we buried Bato."

"What?"

"She and her partner."

"I'm still pissed you went to that."

"What was I supposed to do? He's my boyfriend and I had to be there to support him. Bato was like an uncle to him."

"You've known him for a little over a week and now he's your boyfriend?"

"You are NO ONE to talk about that. I go around all the time telling people not to judge you for who you fuck, and now you're on me about it?"

"I'm not talking about that. I don't care about you being together. In fact I might or might not be curious about it."

"It's as big as you think." She smirked, drawing a low chuckle from Zuko.

"Anyways… I don't care about that. What I do care about is that you were in public with him. Ayamu saw you, they know that there is some kind of connection between you now."

"What's the big deal?" she sighed. "There have been unions between the families before."

"Unions? You're going to marry him now?"

"Probably. We're already looking for a new apartment."

Zuko drug his hands down his face, groaning heavily. "Perfect."

"I'd be more worried about getting in contact with Suki at this point in time though. You only have a few days left to give Hakoda an answer on how to get rid of the Ishida."

"And she might not even have an answer," he sighed.

"That's what you get for backing yourself into a corner."

"I know, I know," he mumbled, raking fingers through his long hair. "I just have to try to get in contact with her again. I know she'll have an idea."

"I have another idea." She stood. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and let's go have some fun."

Zuko looked down at himself. He hadn't showered in a few days, he needed to shave and put on real clothes and comb his hair. The thought of doing all these things felt exhausting but he knew he'd feel better having done it. "I guess," he mumbled.


	25. Chapter 25

She has a lot on her mind as she left the house that morning. She was shaken up from the visit to the grave the day before, and she found herself more scatterbrained than normal.

She'd grabbed her cell phone as she ran out the door, however she'd grabbed the wrong one. It was how Zuko'd contact her. He'd been texting her the past few days, telling her that he needed to see her. True it was all in a code that they knew between the two of them, but it was still contact. It was dangerous to have it on her, even tucked into her side breast pocket.

Ayamu hadn't told her where they were going before they left the station. He said it wasn't safe. Suki figured that he was just being paranoid. He had reason to be, he just didn't know it yet. It was only when they'd arrived at the old warehouse that he flipped the file folder into her lap.

"What's this?"

"The info on that child. The baby in the plot."

She looked down at the folder in her lap, hands locked in position at her side. She didn't wanna look. She couldn't.

"I found the burial records, which lead me to the birth and death certificate. Little thing only lived a week."

"Poor thing," she whispered. Hands still locked in place. "I don't understand what this has to do with anything."

"Two things to note." He reached over, grabbing the envelope. "I thought that the baby might be Ozai's. But the birth certificate lists Zuko as the father."

"So he had a kid, what's it matter?"

"Well the kid had no mother. On the birth certificate he's the only one listed." Suki wanted to say something, but he kept talking. "The really odd thing though is the birthday." He offered her the birth certificate which she looked at without taking it.

"Oh?"

"That child, Zuko's child, would have been 18 years old on the very day that Ozai was killed."

Suki cut her eyes at him, jaw tightening. "I think you should leave this alone, Ayamu."

"Why?" he asked, pulling the paper back towards him.

"Because this is the Yakuza. And if you go poking around too much you're going to end up dead."

He shook his head, stuffing the paper back in the folder. "No one even knows I'm doing this. You're the only one. Well, till now."

"What do you mean till now?"

He motioned to the building they were parked in front of. "This is a popular place for the Familes to come and use for target practice. Zuko and Azula are in there right now."

"And just what they hell are you going to do?"

"Well, as far as I see it this constitutes as fraudulent activity on an official document."

"From 18 years ago?" she laughed. "That's hardly going to illicit a heavy punishment, if any."

"That's the thing." He smiled. "The statute has expired, but it's still cause for me to question him."

"Question him about what?"

"The murder of his father."


	26. Chapter 26

Zuko laughed, nudging Azula with his elbow. "He's a better shot than you."

"Kinda sexy isn't it?" Azula laughed.

Sokka laughed from the other side of her, aiming his outstretched gun at the target. "Damn right it's sexy."

He'd joined them as the last minute, and at first Zuko hadn't been to happy about it. However, after a short while, the man grew on Zuko. He laughed easily, was funny and really was a great shot. He saw what Azula liked about him.

She was also right in that the shooting helped. It got his mind off the looming deadline he'd given Hakoda and his lack of hearing from Suki. He'd sent her another text that morning and had decided to carry the disposable phone he talked to her with. He didn't want to miss her response.

It was his name being called from a ways behind him that he was pulled from his thoughts of her. Azula and Sokka turned as well, looking at the two figures standing at the large open warehouse doors.

"Shit," Azula mumbled.

"Zuko Kasai!"

Zuko sat his gun down on the little table that that had been using, turning to them, swallowing hard before replying. "How can I help you?"

The pair walked over to him, the man and woman were dressed in suits, guns and badges on their hips. He'd not seen the man, but he'd heard much about him. The woman, however, was something else. He thought for a moment how pretty she looked.

"I'm NPA Detective Ayamu Kogo, this is my partner Suki Kyubei."

Suki bowed, making eye contact with Zuko for a moment. He returned the bow, noticing the panic in her eyes. "How can I help members of the NPA?"

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your fiends?" Ayamu asked, motioning to Sokka and Azula.

"Do you have business with them?"

"No." He grinned. "I just like to meet people."

"They aren't part of this then," Zuko said. "I'll ask again, how can I help you?"

Ayamu nodded, reaching for the folder that was still under his arm. "We wanted to ask you about your son."

"Son?" Sokka whispered.

"Shit. Shit," Azula repeated, drawing a quick gaze from Suki.

"Yes," Ayamu smiled at Azula. "You had a nephew, did you know that?" He pulled the birth certificate out from the folder, handing it to Zuko. "Little Ryo Kasai. Born to Zuko Kasai on May 3rd, 3538 grams. Big baby."

"That would be a big baby," Zuko said with a dry, curt voice.

"Lived only a week. Cause of death is listed as SIDS on the death certificate."

"What's this got to do with anything?" Zuko didn't even look at the birth certificate, offering to hand it back to Ayamu.

He took it. "Well, on the surface I will admit that it doesn't seem like anything other than a tragic incident. However, I don't think it's so cut and dry."

"Is that so?"

Ayamu nodded. "I think the baby was murdered."

"It was SIDS," Azula growled from her place to the side. "He died of SIDS."

"Unlikely," Ayamu said, "A child that young won't die from SIDS. It's virtually unheard of. There was no autopsy, no blood work, no nothing. At the request of the family, naturally."

"I have to be honest," Zuko interrupted. "This is all very nice but I really don't see how it impacts me at all right now."

"Oh, I'm getting there." He leafed through the folder, pulling something out and handing it to Suki. "Kindly tell them what this is, please."

Suki silently nodded, looking down at the paper. "It's the Death Certificate of Ozai Kasai."

"And that piece of paper." He motioned to the one in Suki's hand/ "And this one." He held up the birth certificate. "Have one big thing in common."

"And what's what?" Zuko snarled.

"May 3rd. The day your father was assassinated is also the day that your murdered son was born."

"Fuck you. Get the fuck out of here!" Zuko yelled. He could hear Suki's heartbeat from even several feet away. He had to end the situation or else it was going to get ugly.

"Fuck me? I thought this didn't apply to you?"

"Get out before I make you!" Azula had stepped between them, a hand going to her brother's chest as they were trying to separate the two.

Suki did the same with Ayamu, standing behind him and reminding him this isn't why they were here. "Come on, Kasai! You avenged your son! You're a man, no one can blame you for that!"

"You don't know SHIT about my son!"

"I know that you loved him enough to kill for him! You've hid his very existence for 19 years but you never stopped loving him! So fess up to what you did for him!"

Zuko growled loudly, lurching past Azula and towards Ayamu. He landed a punch on his right cheek, the officer laughing at the contact. "You're a stupid son of a bitch!" Ayamu pulled his gun, pointing it at Zuko. "Hands up! You're under arrest."

Suki drew her gun as well, pointing it at Azula and Sokka, both of whom had their hands already in the air. "On the ground!" she barked, Sokka and Azula doing as they were told.

"Do it!" Ayamu yelled at Zuko. The boss made eye contact with the officer, lowering himself down onto the ground.

Ayamu cuffed Zuko first, mocking him from above him. "You're pretty dumb for a smart guy, you know that?"

Suki cuffed Sokka, locking the metal rings in place. She then turned her attention to Azula, the woman's head turned so that they could see one another. "Don't do anything stupid," Azula whispered so silently that Suki was the only one who could hear.

Suki's eyes reacted in understanding. She looked up just in time to see Ayamu pulling a cell phone out of Zuko's pocket that he'd found on the search. "Well, what's this?"

Zuko said nothing, but just looked over at where Suki was still cuffing Azula. He saw the look on Suki's face when she saw the phone and right away read it, the bottom dropping out of his stomach.

Ayamu opened up the flip phone, calling the only number that was saved on it. The vast warehouse fell silent, with the exception of the ringing cell phone in Suki's breast pocket.

"Shit," Azula hissed.

Suki covered the distance between her and Ayamu in what felt to them both like a fraction of a second. One hand went to his wrist, the other to the bottom of his chin as she snapped his head back, pulling his arm hard enough to throw him off his balance. Tucking a foot behind his knee she sent him spilling onto the ground, landing hard on his ass only inches from Zuko's head.

With her own gun still drawn she reached down to the belt of her stunned partner, unholstering his gun and taking it into her hands.

Ayamu looked up at the young woman, the barrel of his own gun pointed between his eyes.

"I told you to leave this alone," she said down to him.

In the next few moments two shots would come from that gun, both of which would change the criminal underworld forever.


End file.
